New Authors' Site: Redroom....

From SF Gate. com :

Literary Web site Redroom a new chapter for authors, book lovers
Carolyne Zinko, Chronicle Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Ivory Madison, serial entrepreneur, doesn't want much from her latest venture, Redroom.com. Not much, that is, except to build it into the Internet's premier site for authors and the discussion of books and ideas.

Redroom.com, which premiered Dec. 21, is one of the more ambitious online communities for writers to date and perhaps the most timely, aiming to capitalize on the current potential for profitability of social-networking sites. It features 150 authors (with 400 more to come), ranging from Amy Tan and Salman Rushdie to Edinburgh Castle Pub owner Alan Black; Graham Leggatt, executive director of the San Francisco Film Society, who moonlights as a sci-fi writer; and local mystery writer Cara Black.

Whereas publishing houses tend to put the bulk of their promotional efforts into big-name authors, Redroom.com puts writers of varying success on an equal footing, providing each with a Web page and blog. The site is meant to appeal to readers, authors, booksellers and publishers as a kind of one-stop shop for biographical information, book reviews, blogs, video and audio content and author appearances. It's a virtual place where "midlist" authors in particular, who are watching their books get knocked off store shelves with alarming speed, can network and promote themselves, much as emerging musicians do on MySpace.com.

There's a philanthropic component as well. Authors designate their favorite charities or nonprofits, and a portion of the revenue generated from page and ad views goes to good causes.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/01/08/DDD9U9GHI.DTL&nl=top

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